From Yahoo/Reuters:
“Ukraine
war: six months that shook the world”
(A Ukrainian
service member with a dog observes in the industrial area of the city of
Sievierodonetsk, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine June 20,
2022.)
Six months ago
this week, Vladimir Putin ordered tens of thousands of Russian troops into
Ukraine on a "special military operation" - a mass invasion on a
scale unseen in Europe since World War Two. Since then, tens of thousands of
people have been killed, millions have fled and cities have been reduced to
rubble by Russia's relentless bombardment.
Here are
some milestones from the conflict:
A CHILLING
SPEECH Russia repeatedly denied it would invade Ukraine and once it did,
said it sought to "disarm" Kyiv, purge it of "nationalists"
and halt the expansion of NATO, not seize territory. But Ukrainians say an
address by Russian President Vladimir Putin three days before the Feb. 24
invasion left no doubt he aimed to conquer their country and wipe out their
1,000-year national identity. "Ukraine is not just a neighbouring
country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and
spiritual space," Putin said. "Since time immemorial, the people
living in the southwest of what has historically been Russian land have called
themselves Russians and Orthodox Christians."
AN EARLY
DEFEAT Within hours of the invasion, Russia landed commandos at Antonov
airfield, a cargo base just north of Kyiv, to secure an air bridge for a
lightning assault on the capital. Within a day, Ukrainians had wiped out
the elite Russian paratroops and destroyed the landing strip. While Russia's
armoured columns would eventually reach the northern outskirts of Kyiv, the
failure to secure a working air field on day one helped wreck Moscow's plan to
swiftly seize the capital.
'I'M HERE' As
Russian bombs fell on Kyiv and its residents huddled in metro stations for
shelter or crammed train stations to flee, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made
clear he would go nowhere. "Good morning Ukrainians," the
former sitcom actor said, with the hint of a smile, in a mobile phone selfie
video taken in the early light of the war's third morning. Behind him was a
landmark building in central Kyiv. "Ya tut." I'm here. Zelenskiy
went on to rally his country in nightly addresses, his combat fatigues, sparse
stubble and casual but firm speaking style becoming symbols of Ukraine's
resistance. Since then, he has used video links to invoke Martin Luther
King to the U.S. Congress and the Berlin Wall to the Bundestag. He has been
beamed into the streets of Prague, the Grammy awards and the Glastonbury music
festival, where he told cheering fans to "prove that freedom always
wins".
CARRYING A
STRANGER'S CHILDREN As Russia pounded Ukrainian cities, millions took
flight in what the United Nations said was the fastest-growing refugee crisis
in generations. More than 6.6 million refugees have been recorded across
Europe, most in neighbouring countries, which opened their arms. Kyiv banned
men of fighting age from leaving. "Their father simply handed over
the two kids to me, and trusted me, giving me their passports to bring them
over," Natalya Ableyeva, 58, said on the border with Hungary two days
after the invasion, the arms of the young boy she had known for just a few hours
around her neck. On the Hungarian side of the border, the children were
later reunited with their mother, who wept as she hugged them tightly.
GLIMPSES OF
HELL Mariupol, a once-prosperous southern port, was destroyed by Russian
forces over three months of what the Red Cross called "hell". Ukraine
says tens of thousands of civilians died, with food, water and medical supplies
cut and continuous bombing trapping many in basements. The United Nations says
the toll is unknown. On March 9, Russia bombed a Mariupol maternity
hospital, killing three people, including a child. The Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe called it a war crime. Moscow said the
building was disused and occupied by fighters. A week later, a theatre
where Ukraine said families were sheltering in the basement was destroyed. The
word "children" could be seen in satellite photos painted on the
ground outside. Kyiv says Russia bombed it deliberately to break the city's
will and that hundreds of bodies are still believed buried; Russia said,
without giving any evidence, that the incident was staged.
BODIES IN
STREETS By the end of March, Russia's assault on Kyiv had failed. Its
armoured columns, vulnerable to mobile units of Ukrainian defenders with
anti-tank missiles and drones, had become bogged down and sustained heavy
losses. Moscow announced its withdrawal from northern Ukraine as a
"goodwill gesture". But as its troops pulled out, they left evidence
of their occupation in ruined towns and villages where bodies lay in the
streets. Scores of victims were found in the once prosperous suburb of
Bucha, some with hands tied. Russia denied blame and claimed, with no evidence,
that the killings were staged.
'RUSSIAN
WARSHIP, GO FUCK YOURSELF' In the first hours of the invasion, Russian
officers on the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva radioed Ukrainian guards on the
barren but strategic Black Sea outcrop Snake Island, ordering them to surrender
or die. One of them radioed back "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."
The phrase became a national slogan, depicted on Ukrainian billboards,
T-shirts, and eventually a postage stamp showing a Ukrainian guard standing on
the outcrop, giving the flagship the finger. The day the stamp was
released, April 14, two Ukrainian missiles struck the Moskva, the biggest
warship sunk in combat for 40 years. Officially, Russia says one sailor was
killed in an accident. Western experts say they believe around half of the crew
of about 450 perished at sea. On June 30, Russia abandoned Snake Island
after taking heavy losses trying to defend it. It called its withdrawal another
"goodwill gesture".
AZOVSTAL The
siege of Mariupol wore on, largely beyond the world's gaze. Reuters reporters
who reached the city from the Russian-held side found an eery, silent
wasteland, where bewildered civilians emerged from cellars beneath the ruins to
bury their dead in grass by the roadside. The last Ukrainian troops were
holed up in Azovstal, one of Europe's largest steel plants, where underground
tunnels served as bunkers. On May 16, Ukraine's general staff told them to
surrender to save their lives. Reuters journalists saw them emerging, carrying
their wounded on stretchers to buses that took them to a prison camp run by
pro-Russian separatists. Moscow pledged to treat the Azovstal prisoners
according to the Geneva conventions but rebuffed Ukrainian calls for a prisoner
swap. On July 29, dozens of the Azovstal defenders were killed in the
custody of pro-Russian separatists in a fiery blast that engulfed a prison.
Kyiv called it a war crime carried out on Moscow's orders. Moscow said the
prison had been struck by a Ukrainian missile, without explaining why no
pro-Russian guards had been hurt. Russia's embassy in London said the surviving
Azov prisoners should be executed by hanging, adding: "They deserve a
humiliating death."
THE BATTLE
OF THE DONBAS Having failed to take Kyiv, Russia changed its war aims to
focus on securing the Donbas, an eastern region formed of two provinces already
partly held by its separatist proxies. That unleashed the most devastating
ground battles of the war. In mid-May, an entire battalion of Russian
troops was wiped out trying to cross the Siverskiy Donets River. Satellite
photos showed dozens of destroyed armoured vehicles scattered across either
bank. The Russians pressed on, using their artillery firepower advantage
to hem in Ukrainian forces on three sides. Throughout June, both sides claimed
to have killed thousands of enemy soldiers. After capturing the ruins of the
cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, Putin declared a victory in the area
on July 4 but battles grind on.
'HIMARS O'CLOCK
The war is now focused mainly on the south, where Kyiv has vowed to
recapture the biggest swath of territory seized in the invasion that Russia
still holds. Russia has rushed in more troops. Since early July, Ukraine
has deployed advanced rockets supplied by the West - the M142 High Mobility
Artillery Rocket System, HIMARS. It can now target bridges, railways, command
posts and ammunition dumps deep inside Russian-held territory and hopes this
will shift the course of the war in its favour.
^ 6 Months
into Russia’s War in Ukraine has shown the Russian People and the Whole World
that Russia is NOT a Modern, Sophisticated, Civilized Country.
It continues
to be a Brutal, Backwards, Poor, Developing Country run by inept Officials.
The numerous
Russian War Crimes committed by Russian Soldiers, Russian Government Officials
and even Ordinary Russians inside Ukraine will forever be a Dark Stain on
Russian History.
You can see
the many mistakes and the many crimes committed by the Russians in Ukraine over
the past 6 months in the above sections.
Ukraine and
the Whole World is lucky that Putin is Weak. That the Russian Military is Weak
and that the Russian People are Weak. Otherwise the chaos, destruction and
death that they have already committed in Ukraine would be far worse and would
most likely have expanded to other countries (like Moldova, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Hungary, Romania and Poland.)
The Russians
have had 40,000 Russian Soldiers killed in Ukraine in these past 6 months. That
is more than at any other time in Modern Russian History. It is also an extremely
high number for any Country to have lost in only 6 months.
Luckily, those
40,000 Russian Nazis have not died an honorable death in Ukraine. They have
died a Butcher’s Death and will be forever looking up at the rest of us while
their only company now are the German Nazis.
Russia has not
gained full control of any Ukrainian Oblast (Province) since its February 24,
2022 Invasion and even the places once thought fully under Russian Occupation
since 2014 (Crimea) are now being bombed and attacked in a Ukrainian Counteroffensive
forcing Russian Tourists, Russian Occupation Forces and Russian Occupation
Officials to flee back to the Russian Federation like the rats they are – rats fleeing
a sinking ship.
One day the
Russians in Ukraine will be defeated. One day Putin will no longer be Dictator.
One day the Russian Nazis and the Russian People will be held to account for their War Crimes.
Only after all
of that happens can the Russian Federation or the Russian People ever hope to
rejoin the Civilized World.
Until then
please do whatever you can to help Ukraine and the Ukrainian People. They are
doing so much with so little and yet we owe them so much more than we can ever
repay them. They are giving up their lives to help the rest of us. ^
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-war-six-months-shook-050000993.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
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